


Shakespeare

by Diane_C



Category: Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander - All Media Types, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 14:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/663101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diane_C/pseuds/Diane_C
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack and Stephen have a chat about Shakespeare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shakespeare

**Author's Note:**

> The opening italicized quote comes directly from Patrick O'Brian, and the rest of the words are my own -- with some lovely help from the Bard.

  
  
 

**Shakespeare**

  
  
_"You are not unlike Shakespeare," observed Stephen, as they walked back to the cabin.  
  
"So I am often told by those who read my letters and dispatches," said Jack, "but what makes you say so at this particular moment?"  
  
"Because his clowns make quips of that bludgeoning, knock-me-down nature. You have only to add_ marry, come up _or_ go to, with a pox on it _and it is pure Gammon, or Bacon, or what you will."_   
  
"It's kind in you to say so!" cried Jack. "I've always fancied myself a bit of a Fester."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"Fester."  
  
"A jester?"  
  
"No, no, Stephen, you miss my drift. My allusion is too keen for you, God love me. _Fester._ The witty cove in Twelfth Night."  
  
"Aha. Fester, yes. I believe they called him 'Feste' for short. His sobriquet, as it were."  
  
"Did they? I don't recall. Might amaze you to know I haven't read the play in a while."  
  
"You astonish me, joy."  
  
"It's true, though. Yes, Fester, or maybe that Fool in King Lear... He had an uncommon good line about foul weather, I quote it when I can: 'Tis a naughty night to swim in.' Ha ha! Lear's Fool. What was that blasted Fool called, Stephen?"  
  
"'The Fool,' I believe."  
  
"'The Fool'? You don't say so. Well, that ain't overly creative, is it. Shakespeare was probably tired that day."  
  
"Probably," said Stephen, smiling.  
  
"But even tired, he could turn a phrase. And I can offer up a tolerably rare line now and again, if I strain myself."  
  
"'Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun; it shines everywhere.'"  
  
"Stephen! Well said. Is it yours?"  
  
"Nay, nay, not mine. Fester's."  
  
"'Walks about the orb like the sun.' Well said." Jack squinted at the murky horizon. "But the sun don't shine everywhere right now, does it? We're in for a squall unless I miss my guess. Join me in the top?"   
  
"No, thank you, Jack; my afternoon is devoted to my deformed foot."  
  
"And a lovely afternoon it will be, no doubt. You'll join me for supper, then?"  
  
"With bells on."  
  
Jack began to climb, and then he laughed as he climbed. "Bells! Jesters! Good one, Stephen!" He started to sing, and his cheerful, tuneful voice reached Stephen on deck:

"He that has and a little tiny wit  
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,  
Must make content with his fortunes fit,  
For the rain it raineth every day."

  
  
Stephen watched him for a while before going below. He pondered upon Shakespeare as he dissected his foot, and later that night, after supper and music, while writing in his diary, Stephen remembered the wise fool Polonius's best advice. He indulged himself by writing, not in code, "The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel."  
  
~the end~  
  
(Opening quote is from _The Far Side of the World_ , p. 197, Norton paperback edition)

 


End file.
